La Jolla Institute targets the mystery of genes

Sonia Sharma (left), scientific director of the new RNAi Center at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Stephen Wilson, the center's executive director, helped craft the application for the $12.6 million federal grant that funded research facility.
— John Gastaldo

Sonia Sharma (left), scientific director of the new RNAi Center at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, and Stephen Wilson, the center's executive director, helped craft the application for the $12.6 million federal grant that funded research facility.
— John Gastaldo

Uncovering the secrets of genes

The National Institutes of Health grant won by La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology provides funding for experiments in three research areas:

• Two studies will look at how the immune system recognizes viruses and bacteria.

• One will study the way the immune system creates “memory” that keeps fighting targeted pathogens for long periods. The work could help with the improvement of existing vaccines and the creation of new vaccines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.

• In the final project, a group from The Scripps Research Institute led by biochemist David Nemazee will look for the genes that cause the immune system to turn on the body and trigger diseases such as arthritis and lupus.

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Coded in each one of us are the 26,000 or so genes that drive the functions of life.

The chunks of DNA determine everything from the color of eyes to whether a cell becomes muscle, bone, a neuron or some other tissue.

Some genes, such as TP53 which helps to block the growth of tumors, are well known to researchers, but the job done by most of them remains a mystery.

Figuring that out could lead to new treatments and cures for many diseases.

Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology have begun working on that challenge at one of only a handful of large-scale centers devoted to the study of RNA interference, a cellular process that serves as an off switch for genes.

The state-of-the-art facility, which opened last week, was built with a $12.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The center represents “a milestone” in fueling the work needed to better understand the genetic mechanisms underlying diseases, said Mitchell Kronenberg, the institute’s president and chief scientific officer.

“This is primarily a discovery tool, and we hope the discoveries can lead to therapeutics,” he said.

The laboratory contains an impressive collection of high-tech devices that would make any biologist envious.

Genetic sequencing machines made by Life Technologies in Carlsbad. An automated microscope. A cell sorter and analyzer that can look at millions of cells per second. And a robot that can run up to 30,000 individual experiments at a time in a sea of tiny liquid wells.

Speed and volume are paramount.

Identifying the genes related to a particular trait, such as an immune system response, can require thousands of individual screenings that would take years if done by hand.

The computers and automated machines squeeze that time frame to days or weeks, allowing researchers to pursue “big science,” said Stephen Wilson, executive director of the center and the institute’s vice president and chief technology officer.

“The use of high-throughput screening technology revolutionizes how immunologists attack long-sought-after and complex problems in disease biology,” he said. “Before these tools, many of these questions couldn’t be properly investigated.”

Another important feature is that the center is open to scientists from other research institutes on the Torrey Pines Mesa who want to design and run experiments on the facility’s equipment.